Thanks again. I am currently updating my reinstalled McAfee, and have run their Quickclean program to tidy the registry, so it may have picked up any IE8 traces.

The computer has now forgotten its PCMCIA card - it did come out yesterday, but I wouldn't have thought it needed reinstalling - unless it was before I did the tidy.

I wish computers were like washing machines. You buy one with certain features. It keeps those features and keeps working with them. It does not change. My freeview box keeps adapting itself, too, and I have to balance the advantages of the new version with its disadvantages - I am no longer allowed to remove from view the dross stations - in some cases "adult" material I regard more as adolescent male.

Penny